This Week's Health Goal: Get More Sleep!

I was thinking last week that, although I started this blog just to have somewhere to ramble, I could probably do with just a tad more structure than I have. So, I sat down and wrote out a tentative editorial calendar. In thinking about adding structure to my blog, it occurred to me that it might not be such a bad idea to add a little more structure to my life as well. (Not the first time I’ve had this thought, but ya know.) So, in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone, I’ve settled on a few series of sorts.

Every Monday is healthy goal day. Each week, I plan to set a small, attainable goal that will work toward my becoming healthier and changing my lifestyle. And I’m going to share it with all of you! Don’t you feel special? J

A Seriously Overdue Update

Has it really been two weeks since I posted anything? I mean, I knew I’d been busy, but didn’t realize I’d been that  busy! This is going to be a long  post. You’ve been warned. J

I took a little time off from writing to go be a florist for Valentine’s Day at my mama’s shop, and then for a bit of rest from the stress that comes with working the insane amount of hours that I do. We also took a little trip down south for my oldest daughter’s first archery competition, and it was nice to get out and about to somewhere we normally wouldn’t visit.

Getting Healthy: Take 2

You could say this is take two, I suppose. You could also say it’s take 200 if you count up all the times I’ve tried to change my lifestyle in the past. It’s either insanity or tenacity…I’m not sure which. What I do know is that, no matter how many times I fail, my health is something I cannot give up on. And so, I continue onward in my resolve to kick the caffeine habit and get well.

Healthy Food, Good Food

They’re calling for up to an inch of snow in our area tonight. Even if it doesn’t snow, it’s been raining like crazy, so black ice is almost guaranteed. So, like any good Southern girl, off to the grocery store I went for milk and bread. I don’t know why we have to buy milk and bread when it’s supposed to snow, but we do and so I just carry on tradition.

Know When to Hold, Know When to Fold

I want to apologize for going on hiatus the last couple of days. I’ve not felt well at all and it’s been all I can do to sit up long enough to do my work, much less try to blog. So, that said, I’m a little bit sad, a little bit mad, a little bit frustrated, and a little bit glad. I had to break the cleanse last night.

Now, to be fair, my heart was never in this. I wasn’t doing it because I wanted to; I was doing it because I had to. Because my Coke habit had gotten way out of control, as had my coffee habit. Then the thing with my hands…I’ve been making myself sick and I had to try to undo the damage and get started in the right direction.

However, it looks like that as wonderful as the Master Cleanse was for me last time around, it was not the answer this time. I’ve felt bad the entire time, and yesterday was the worst. If it were just headaches or nausea, I could have dealt with that and continued. But I was severely dizzy all day yesterday. I had to go to town and got scared a couple of times that I might pass out while driving. I made it home fine, but the dizziness only got worse.

Something’s Not Right

Finally, I checked my blood pressure, since I am prone to having lower blood pressure anyway. In fact, I believe the only reason I’m not on low blood pressure medicine is because I smoke and have tons of caffeine. Even with that, my blood pressure stays in the perfectly normal range most of the time. But last night, it was abnormally low—and every time I’d check it after that, I’d just be lower.

My husband and I decided that I must have something to eat to get my blood pressure back up. Knowing that breaking the cleanse the wrong way will result in severe stomach pain and nausea, I thought that maybe just licking on a spoon of peanut butter would help…but I couldn’t get it down. So I opted for a bowl of chicken noodle soup, which has tons of sodium in it. It brought my blood pressure to just within normal ranges, but not much more.

As much as I really wanted to be done with the cleanse, I also didn’t want to give up before it had time to work. Plus, I have all this syrup and just bought a ton more lemons yesterday. So I’ve spent the day trying to rethink my approach, not sure as to whether I should continue or not. Then, about an hour ago, my blood pressure pretty much made the decision for me…it was lower than it was even last night—I could barely stand up properly.

Being Flexible

I’m not entirely sure yet what I’m going to do. All I know is that if I try to continue this cleanse with it bottoming out my blood pressure, I’m going to end up really sick. I have to eat at least a small meal every day. So I think what I’m going to try is to continue drinking the lemonade throughout the day, but allow myself at least one reasonable meal per day. I know I won’t get near the cleansing benefits—I may not get any at all—but it would be stupid to continue in this manner knowing that I could pass out any moment from low blood pressure.

Wellness is a great deal about learning to listen to your body and taking action to give it what it needs. Right now, my body needs food. So, as true to form as it would be for me to beat myself up about failing, I have resolved not to. If the goal is wellness, and this path is leading away from that, then it is not a failure for me to listen to what my body is saying. There is something good that has come from this, though…and I’ll discuss that in another post.

The Master Cleanse and New Beginnings

It took me two hours this morning to get up the gall to do my flush, but once I started I was ok. I’m actually feeling pretty good right now. I’m working on my 10^th glass of lemonade and I only have a mild headache. Of course, I’ve been drinking water like it’s going out of style, too, so I’m wondering if that has helped to minimize the caffeine withdrawal symptoms.

I’m actually just a tad concerned that I’m not feeling like I’m about to die. Don’t get me wrong…I am most grateful that the first day has not been like it was the last time. But at the same time, I should be seriously detoxing from caffeine right now and I feel fine for the most part. So I have to wonder if the worst is yet to come, or worse—the cleanse isn’t doing anything.

The Master Cleanse and Hunger

I was not remotely hungry up until about two hours ago. That’s when the family ate. Grilled cheese sandwiches…and they smelled sooo good. C was originally going to make bacon and eggs, but I gave him a look, while calling him evil, that suggested his life may be at risk if he made me smell bacon cooking right now. ;)

The Saltwater Flush

I purposefully waited to discuss the saltwater flush in detail until today. I wanted to go through the experience again, fresh, so that I could be sure of my feelings about it. They haven’t changed. I do not enjoy this portion of the cleanse overly much.

However, it’s really not as terrible as you might think. The hardest part is getting down a quart of saltwater within a fairly short time. For me, it’s not the saltwater as much as it is that it would be hard for me to chug down a quart of anything within a short period of time. I’m more of a sipper kind of gal.

Getting It Down

I will say this…using very warm water—almost hot—to do the flush is much more pleasant than using cold or lukewarm water. I learned last time that you can easily pretend that the flush is a very salty broth when it’s warm. When it’s not—gag! Also, it’s important to remember that it’s 2 TEAspoons, not 2 tablespoons of seasalt to a quart of water.

Setting and Achieving Goals

It recently occurred to me that, given the timing of this whole wellness thing, some of you may believe that it’s my New Year’s Resolution. It’s not. First of all, I stopped making resolutions a few years ago—they’re stupid and very rarely are true resolutions. Second of all, we’re nearly two weeks into the new year, so I’d be running terribly behind if that were the case. No, this is something I’ve been mulling over and planning for a while now.

Cold Feet and Second Thoughts

I’m getting just a tad bit anxious about tomorrow. I survived the trip to Earth Fare ON CAMPUS of a major university with ALL THREE of my lovely children…and they all lived, so we’re calling it a success. Note to self: Next time you plan to go to Earth Fare, don’t do it on a Friday night while all the students have the same idea.

Despite the crowd and the rain and the incessant “I want this!/Can we get that?/Oooh, what’s this?”’s, it was a good trip. We all got a plate from the hot bar and ate in the car. S, my youngest, stole ¾ of my salmon filet, but it’s ok. I ate her salad, so I guess we’re even. The fact that she did not want her salad and I did want my salmon is irrelevant. I’m just happy she enjoys healthy foods.

Master Cleanse Shopping List

First, let me adamantly state that I loathe to go grocery shopping. It is the bane of my existence and I detest the entire experience. I don’t know if it’s that I’m a semi-recluse, having to fight traffic and rude people, budgeting and spending money, or the insane amount of organization it takes to get the most you can for your money. I suspect it’s all of these things combined with some sort of strange personal quirk, but I digress. Point made.

With that said, today is the day I’m to go shopping for my Master Cleanse supplies. I’ll have to make a few more runs to the local grocery before it’s over to restock on lemons, but everything else I intend to get today. This will include:

Prepping for the Master Cleanse...the WRONG Way

I have two recipes that were my great-grandmother’s: chili and chicken and dumplings. They are a mainstay of my family’s winter menu and I enjoy them much more than I should. This week, I have made both. It’s not that it’s been unusually cold—it’s actually been rather warm for this time of year. But I know that, after Saturday, I won’t be able to enjoy them again for quite some time. So, I indulged.

Master Cleanse Preparation Rachael-Style

A smart person would have taken this week to slowly wean away from caffeine, junk food, and rich dishes—especially if that person had done the cleanse before and knew what the first day is like if you don’t prepare properly. But, I am not a particularly smart person when it comes to things like that.

Addictions Come in Many Forms

Street drugs. Prescription pain killers. Alcohol. Pornography. Gambling. Most of us know and recognize these things as forms of addiction. Mine is Coke. Not the white powdery substance you may be thinking—I’ve never actually even seen that stuff in person. No, my Coke is a darkly colored, delightfully sweet, and magnificently bubbled liquid…and I swear, the white stuff could not possibly be more addictive than what I’m using.

Coke is but one of my unhealthy addictions, but it’s the one that makes me the maddest because
it just seems so ridiculous.

I mean, they’ve long known that cigarettes have a chemical that make it difficult for your brain to let them go. That one I don’t feel quite as bad about—at least not from a psychological standpoint. But cola? Who the heck can’t go through their day without at least 6 cans of soda? Me, that’s who!

For the longest time, it was Dr. Pepper. For nearly 15 years it was Dr. Pepper. I didn’t even care for Coke all that much. Then one day several months ago, I got a craving for Coke and we’ve had a shameful love affair ever since. Now, I know that Dr. Pepper is soda, too—that’s why I mentioned it. For nearly half my life, I’ve been incredibly dependent on soft drinks.

An Addiction to Sugar, Caffeine, or Both?

I am a firm believer that high fructose corn syrup—the stuff they sweeten these drinks with—is addictive. I also believe that sugar in and of itself is addictive, no matter the form. I had periods of time that I didn’t drink as much cola, but I did have to have my sweet tea. I could go through a gallon of that stuff in one day all by myself. When I’ve tried to give up soft drinks by not buying them, I default to drinking tea instead of water. Our tea is very, very sweet.

Then there’s the caffeine. Oh, what would I do without my glorious caffeine? I can drink an entire pot of coffee in just a few hours and not think a thing about it. After that, I start in on my Coke. It’s ridiculous! I would bet I get more caffeine in one day than most people get in a week. I know it’s doing nothing for my insomnia except making it worse, but I seriously cannot get through my day without it.

Making a Choice

I’ve been this addicted to Coke and caffeine before. I gave it up—for a while. You can read my story here if you have a while to wade through it. So I know I can come off this stuff, however unpleasant the process may be. It’s staying off it that’s the problem. But I have to. My addiction is doing more than making me fat and keeping me up at night. I believe it may be killing me. And so, I’ve made a choice to begin a journey—and I hope you’ll share it with me.